In at least some known radiant cooktop ranges, the heating elements are secured to the cooktop below a cooktop glass plate. The heating elements are held against the cooktop glass plate by a mounting assembly including a bracket secured to the range cabinet and a brace which extends the width of the cooktop. The heating elements are mounted to the brace by a compression coil spring and stud assembly. The compression coil spring and stud assembly provides that the heating elements are forced against the cooktop glass plate with a desired force so that heat from the heater elements is efficiently transferred through the glass plate.
In operation, as the heating element heats up, the heat is transferred through the cooktop glass plate to, for example, a cooking bowl located over the heating element on the glass plate. In addition, some heat is transferred to the compression coil spring and stud assembly. For most efficient operation of the heating element described above, it is known that the heating element preferably is forced against the cooktop glass plate at a substantially constant force of about fourteen pounds. As the compression coil spring and stud assembly is heated, however, the force applied by the spring and stud assembly on the heater element may decrease. Of course, when the force of the spring and stud assembly decreases, the heating element may not be forced against the cooktop glass plate at the desired force.
Although the known mounting assembly described above adequately locates and supports the radiant heating elements, such assembly includes numerous parts and is complex to assemble. As a result, assembling the heating elements in the range is time consuming and tedious, which is particularly undesirable in a high volume manufacturing operation.
In addition, and to assemble the mounting assembly described above, tools are used for mounting the bracket to the cooktop, securing the braces to the bracket, and engaging the spring and stud assemblies to the braces and heating elements. The cooktop glass plate, however, is susceptible to scratching, and when using the tools for assembling the mounting assembly, there is a possibility that the glass plate will be scratched by a tool. Of course, scratching the glass plate is highly undesirable since such a scratched plate is more susceptible to breaking than a plate with no scratches.
It would be desirable to provide a mounting system for mounting heating elements to cooktops so that over a wide range of operating temperatures, the heating elements are forced against the cooktop glass plate with a desired force, e.g., fourteen pounds. In addition, it would be desirable for such a system to have a reduced number of parts as compared to known mounting assemblies and to be simple to assemble. Further, it would be desirable to substantially eliminate a need for the use of tools to secure the heating element to the cooktop so as to facilitate avoiding scratching the glass cooktop.